Pituitary Disorders

Sirs:

I want to congratulate TIME'S editor on its section on Medicine. Statements are always brief and nearly always correct. The issue of July 3 contained much information regarding the ductless glands, nearly all correct, but parathyroid tumors are accompanied by an increase in the parathyroid hormone which abstracts calcium from the bones and so leads to softening and cyst formation. Removing the tumor reduces the amount of parathyroid hormone and allows the bones to regain calcium.

It might interest TIME to know that railroads and industry have been watching developments in this field of medicine. More than three years ago the Illinois Central Railroad appointed a consulting endocrinologist to bring practical application of these discoveries to its employes. Pituitary and ovarian disorders have been found more often than any others among railroad employes. Correction of these has not been difficult and has resulted in reducing absenteeism among female employees and in saving the jobs of some others--not only women but also some firemen and engineers.

The endocrines have an important influence over the mental as well as the physical state of the body. In the Elgin (Ill.) State Hospital for the Insane endocrine disorders have been found to be very numerous, and treatment of these disorders has restored a larger number of patients to an approximately normal state so that they were able to leave the institution than did any other procedure.

JAMES H. BUTTON. M. D. Chicago, Ill.

B Lepra

Sirs:

YOUR ACCOUNT LEPROSY ASSAILED PAGE 27 TIME JUNE 26 INTERESTING BUT HISTORICALLY INACCURATE AS PROFESSOR CHARLES WARREN DUVAL GAVE TULANE UNIVERSITY SOPHOMORE MEDICAL STUDENTS A PROVED CULTURE OF LEPROSY BACILLI TO STUDY IN AUTUMN OF 1910 WITH THIS STATEMENT QUOTE YOU ARE THE FIRST CLASS OF MEDICAL STUDENTS IN THE WORLD TO WORK WITH A LABORATORY GROWN CULTURE OF B LEPRA UNQUOTE.

T. H. BATES. M. D. Lake City, Fla.

Hail to able Pathologist & Bacteriologist Charles Warren Duval and to others who grew organisms from leprous tissues. Nonetheless, there has been valid doubt that they isolated and actually reproduced the leprosy bacillus which very closely resembles the tuberculosis bacillus.--ED.

Insulin v. Diabetes

Sirs:

. . . Tn the July 3 issue. Medicine--"Diabetics no longer die of Diabetes because Canadian Investigators isolated insulin from the pancreas." This is far from true, as a glance at any mortality table will show! While Banting and his co-workers deserve the highest credit for their discovery, unfortunately people do still die of Diabetes: in fact (you can check me if I err, when you look up the yearly mortality rates), there were more deaths three and four years after the discovery of insulin, than in the preceding years.

And here I must again indict you, this increased death rate from Diabetes has been attributed by most authorities to Diabetics going on an Insulin spree, due to the erroneous impression that by taking insulin, dietary restrictions could be disregarded. This is wrong, and I think that your article fosters the idea. On the contrary, a Diabetic taking insulin must be more careful of his diet than when not taking it! Insulin does not supplant, but only aids diet in the control of Diabetes.

Pardon me if the criticism seems unduly harsh. It is my opinion that there is altogether too much loose writing and talking in the Field of Medicine. We of the Profession are the worst offenders--but we reserve the privilege.

M. J. CALLANAN. M. D. Buffalo, N. Y.

Three or four years later there were fewer deaths from diabetes than in 1922 when Toronto's Banting announced insulin. But in recent years the death rate is higher. Explanation (according to Metropolitan Life's famed Dr. Dublin): most of the increased deaths are in the higher age brackets, insulin having lengthened the life of diabetics.

As to diet, TIME has assiduously emphasized that point in diabetes news.--ED.

Abyssinia's Ass

Sirs:

In the June 19 issue of TIME, on p. 13, in the first column, I read: "Robert P. Skinner . . . established diplomatic relations with Abyssinia by riding into Addis Ababa on a white ass."

Evidently you are not informed that the present representative of the U. S. in that far-away land, Mr. Addlison E. Southard, entered in the same manner.

A. SINCLAIR MARTIN Ancon, Canal Zone

Subscriber Martin notwithstanding, the State Department denies that short, rotund Minister Southard entered Addis Ababa on an ass, states that he entered in a motor car. The Emperor still bestrides an ass when reviewing troops, tendered an ass to Minister Southard who declined the ceremonial beast with thanks.--ED.

Old Gold

Sirs:

Please explain why TIME'S editors permitted mention of a particular brand of cigaret in issue of July 3, quoting: "Administrator General Hugh Johnson . . . was to be found among a prodigious litter of waste paper and Old Gold cigaret butts."

Mention of this brand of cigaret adds nothing to the news value or interest of the story, lays TIME open to criticism of partiality through so-called "free advertising," generally odious to gentlemen of the Fourth Estate.

CHARLES J. NEUGEBAUER The, Daily Mining Journal Ishpeming, Mich.

Names make news. Let Fourth-estater

Neugebauer fetch himself into the 1930's when such a name as Old Gold is better known than half the names in the U. S. Senate.--ED.

Ooelitic

Sirs:

TIME ERRED IN STATING THIRTY LIMESTONE OPERATORS SIGNED CODE OF ETHICS AT BLOOMFIELD INDIANA STOP BLOOMINGTON INDIANA IS CENTER OF THE INDIANA OOLITIC LIMESTONE DISTRICT

ALBERT HOADLEY Bloomington, Ind.

TIME regrets its 30-mi. error in ooelogy, The limestone code was signed neither at Bloomfield nor Bloomington but at Bedford, Ind.--ED.

"One"

Sirs:

In the current issue of TIME under the heading Milestones, three out of nine notices of marriages refer to the bride as "one," as "George Hearst married one Lorna Pratt Velie; John Duval Dodge married one Dora McDonald Cline; and Prince Alfonso married one Edelmira Sampedro.''

The issue of June 26 also has several notices of marriage in which the bride is referred to as "one."

The word "one" of course as used by you is an indefinite pronoun referring to some person, but it would seem, as it is used from week to week, that you use it in a belittling sense. Possibly some of the brides to whom you apply the pronoun "one" may be as well known as the person they married. . . .

FRANK J. RYAN New York City

Possibly, but not to TIME'S knowledge. TIME uses the designation "one," not to belittle, but to indicate quickly to the reader that the person so designated does not possess any especially newsworthy identity.--ED.

Sirs:

There is one peculiarity of TIME'S that I do not understand, and that is the apparent presumption that a member of the proletariat (or anything short of a well-known socialite) is one of a multiple number of the same name.

Fo instance: James Vandudency, socialite, marries one Maggie Smith. Of course he couldn't marry more than one at the same time, even if there should be 10,000 Maggie Smiths. While telling us he married one, are we to understand he left a lot of them disconsolate?

Are all outside the charmed circle merely a spawning of tadpoles, and once in a while a big fish comes along and takes one? No. James marries Maggie and that's the end of it, unless they are divorced, in which case I suppose you will say "James is divorced from the one Maggie." There should be some identifying mark in case he should marry another one Maggie Smith.

My own name is not a common combination. I have never seen it duplicated, but in case any accident like above should happen to me, please do not say Montmorency married one

GRACE ARMSTRONG Milford, Pa.

After Subscriber Grace Armstrong has married a Montmorency, she will have ceased to be one, will be, even upon divorce, an identifiable Montmorency.--ED.

Tree Soldiers

Sirs:

. . . The undersigned is in command of one of the Civilian Conservation Corps work camps and can speak from first-hand knowledge of the workings of the Corps.

The C.C.C. member receives $30 pay per month, as Corporal Baker stated, but he does not receive free laundry, free tobacco, or free picture shows. He docs take an oath to serve in the Corps six months and is not free to go home anytime he chooses.

The outstanding inaccurate statement in Corporal Baker's letter is that the C.C.C. men are doing useless labor. Our camp is located in the

Angeles National Forest in the mountains just north of Pasadena, Calif. The men of this camp work eight hours a day five days a week in the hot sun on firebreaks, fire-roads and trails, and on what are called erosion works. Every week-end 50% of the camp personnel is required to remain in camp at all times in case of a fire outbreak. A "fire suppression" crew of 24 C.C.C. men are on duty at all hours to answer fire calls with a fire truck.

The forests on these mountain ranges extending to our east and west stand on and preserve the watersheds for the swarming communities which spread out for miles to the south and are dependent on these watersheds for their water.

These include metropolitan Los Angeles, Pasadena, Glendale, Santa Monica, Pomona, Riverdale and Long Beach, to mention only a few.

The value of an acre of primary watershed in Los Angeles County is valued by the Federal Board of Review at $971. In 1924 a great fire destroyed the growth on over 60,000 acres in this area. That year after the heavy floods the assessed value of land directly south was written off the tax records by some $10,000,000. The water level of reservoirs and wells dropped to an alarming level as far south as Long Beach. In the light of such facts the statement that the preservation of the growth on these watersheds is "useless'' is entirely unjustified.

This preservation and care of forest growth (on the great watersheds) is one of the primary functions of the Forestry Service. The C.C.C. in working under their direction is accomplishing work that the Forestry Service has hoped to do for years, but which it has not been able to undertake because of limited numbers and appropriations, both State and Federal. And it is work that should not be put off to an indefinite future. Its accomplishment means millions of dollars to the American public.

The building up and, as is the case in many instances, the rebuilding of character and stamina that has begun to deteriorate over a period of enforced idleness and hanging about street corners is not "useless." This alone would be worth the effort the President has made in launching the Corps, even if Corporal Baker's assertion regarding the work the Conservation Corps is doing were an accurate statement.

H. S. ALDRICH 1st Lieut., Coast Artillery Corps, U. S. A. 903 Co. C.C.C. La Canada, Calif.

Sirs:

Some C.C.C. camps might receive the free tobacco, chewing gum and picture shows of which Corporal G. F. Baker speaks in his letter "Raw Deal" (TIME, June 26), but ours doesn't. It is true, however, that our laundry is done at no cost to us. Any time we're free to we can borrow a bucket, heat some water in it over an open fire, and wash our clothes in it.

WILLIAM WALLACE C.C.C. Co. 578 Camp No. 5 Yosemite National Park, Calif.

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